Homework for 4/22, Day 4

For Wednesday, 22 April, read Suburban Nation, ch. 2. 

Homework for Monday, April 6

Read the introduction to and first chapter of Suburban Nation. If you have a chance, check out this site; we'll use it pretty heavily while reading Suburban Nation. Keep in mind your profile is due on Wednesday, April 8. 

Homage to Catalonia Essay

In his introduction to Homage to Catalonia, Lionel Trilling describes Orwell's capacity for honesty--for reporting just what he sees. Write an essay that analyzes how Orwell rhetorically accomplishes that honesty with three examples from the book--one from chapters I-V, another from chapters VI-X, and a third from chapters XI-XIV. Supplement your analysis with at least one illustration from both The Visual Front: Posters of the Spanish Civil War and the UK History Channel's web site on the Spanish Civil War (click on "Gallery"), and explain their relationship to Orwell's honesty. (You should print out the illustration and include it with your essay.) This essay is due on Wednesday, March 25.

For Juniors, for Friday, 3/6/09

In addition to reading pp. 72-120 in Homage to Catalonia, remember to bring a revision of the paragraph you wrote in class on Monday. Focus on sharpening the language, making it more concise, using more specific words, and conveying your subject's relationship to something larger than himself or herself. Also, as I mentioned in class on Wednesday, I would like you to bring in something that you read recently that you enjoyed. It shouldn't be more than a few pages long; an excerpt of a book is fine.

Links for the Spanish Civil War

Here are links to the pages I showed in class today:

Posters for the Spanish Civil War (click on "Chronology of the War," too, for clarifications and additional information).

UK History Channel site on the Spanish Civil War (click on "Gallery").

As I mentioned, you will need to use one illustration from each of these sites to supplement the essay you will write about Homage to Catalonia. You will receive the essay topics on Monday; the essay will be due Tuesday, March 17.

Assignments

Note that your assignments for the third quarter are posted to the right under "AP Lang Assignments." For Thursday, in addition to reading and annotating Lionel Trilling's introduction to Homage to Catalonia, read Emerson's "Self-Reliance," which was handed out today in class. If you were absent from class, you can find the PDF of Emerson's essay here, and see me for a copy of your book.

Assignments for Wednesday, 2/11, and Friday, 2/13

Clarification: Complete the writing component of these assignments within forty minutes. This means you should write a full response within this allotted time. Do not "do as much as you can" within that time; strive to complete it within that time. 

For Wednesday, read Alice Walker, "Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self," in 50 Essays, pp. 441-449.  Write a coherent and cohesive response to question 4.

For Friday, read Sarah Vowell, "Shooting Dad," in 50 Essays, pp. 433-440. Write a response to question 4. With this response, you do not need to compose an essay; you may list the humorous moments and explain them, and then include your hypothesis at the end.